Are memories really forever?
by morganandhotch
Summary: Are memories really forever? I am not sure about that! When Hotch's head is injured on the field, What state will his mind be in when he wakes up in hospital.
1. Chapter 1

"Hotch? Aaron?" he could see a figure drift above him. Someone was calling at him, the sounded so loud it hurt his head. He tried to sit up but an extreme dizziness came over him and he had to steady himself.

"Hotch, are you alright?" Morgan asked. His boss wasn't looking so good.

"Who…?" he croaked, looking at the man in front of him as his eyes rolled into his head and he fell into darkness.

…..cm…..cm…..

" ? Mr Hotchner stay with me. Mr Hotchner?" Aaron looked up at a blurry upside down figure.

"Who…" Hotch starts again.

Before he could finish, the pounding ache in his head brought him back into darkness.

"Were losing him!"

…..cm…..cm…..

_In the hospital_

JJ sat with Emily, Reid and Rossi, while Morgan paced unable to sit still. Penelope was on her way.

"Agent Hotchner?" said a tall doctor as he walked into the waiting room.

"Yes!" Morgan says as the others stand up.

" has a severe concussion. We won't know how bad he was hurt until he wakes up."

"Can we see him?" JJ asks

"You can see him now, but only a few at a time"

….cm...cm….

Morgan, Rossi and Emily walked into Hotch's room. He lay still, a bandage around his head.

"I should have seen it coming" Morgan sighs as they walk up along the side of the bed.

"Morgan don't bring yourself down! There was no way you could have known, any of us could have known." Rossi says sympathetically.

As he finished, Hotch's eyes started to flutter open. The brightness of the white room hurt his head even more and as he squinted he was reminded of the thumping pain, although it had started to numb with the pain killers it still hurt like hell.

"Wh…Where am I?" he manages to say.

"You in the hospital" Rossi says, looking at the confused look on his friends face. "Morgan, will you go tell the nurse he is awake?"

"Yeh sure" giving Hotch one last glance he leaves the room.

A minute later Morgan comes back in with the nurse. She checks on Hotch for a minute then turns to his team.

"There doesn't seem to be any serious damage apart from a sore head. If all goes well he should be able to leave tomorrow, staying I bed of course. I understand that agents are not very good at resting" she smiles at the team and then at Hotch.

"Hear that Aaron, you will be home by tomorrow!" Morgan says smiling at the good news. The whole group seemed relieved.

Hotch looks up at Morgan and the rest of them, still a confused look on his face. He opens his mouth to say something, thinking carefully for a moment.

"Who's Aaron?"


	2. Chapter 2

The team gave each other a worried look. Hotchs eyes started to slide closed again.

" ? Try to stay awake for a minute longer, the doctors on his way" The nurse checks his vitals.

The doctor walks through the door and goes right up to Aaron's bed.

"Mr. Hotchner? How's your head?" the doctor says as he checks the clipboard.

Hotch turns to and looks at him. "Why am I here?"

"What day is it?" the doctor asks, ignoring Aaron's question.

"Tuesday?" hotch says looking annoyed at the doctor

"What date is it?"

"The 24th" Hotch sighs, rolling his eyes.

"What month is it?" the doctor then asks.

"September?"

"Ok, What colour t-shirt were you wearing before you were here?" the doctor says sliding a pen out of his pocket.

"Black?" Hotch answers.

The doctor turns to the team with a worried look on his face. "Would you mind stepping outside? I will just finish up in here and will come out and discuss some things with you"

The agents nod and walk out glancing back just before the door closes.

"Can I please leave I'm fine! There is nothing wrong with my head!" Hotch says lifting himself up onto his elbows.

"Mr. Hotchner please lie down! "The doctor insists.

"I'm fine! There's nothing wrong with me!"

"You're not Mr. Hotchner!" The doctor says putting the clipboard back in the slot. "Mr. Hotchner its Friday the 3rd of February and you were wearing a suit not a t-shirt! You have a very bad concussion!"

As the doctor finishes, Hotch suddenly looks around the room.

"Where am I?" hotch says with a confused look on his face.

…..cm…..cm…..

"This doesn't look good does it?" Emily says sadly.

Rossi looks at her with a mournful look that answer her question.

"I should have stayed with him!" Morgan grumbles angrily, punching the wall.

"Morgan" Rossi says quietly, the best thing for him now is to stay calm" putting his hand on morgans shoulder.

Just then the doctor comes out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

"I understand you are all stressed at the moment but you have to keep calm so Mr. Hotchner doesn't get upset." The doctor says noticing Morgans anger.

"Can we do something to help him?" Emily asks.

"Right now you could inform the rest of your team" the doctor says as he turns to walk down the hall. "Oh and also try to help as much as he can handle to get his memory back" the doctor smiles his thanks before walking away.

"Well we better go deliver the news" Rosii says sighs sadly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own criminal minds **

**Please review so I know how I'm doing! This is my first story btw so it's probably not great. I also am only getting used to the site so sorry for any mistakes and stuff!**

….

"So he has no memory of himself or his life?" JJ asks looking tired. "Is this even possible?"

"Actually 93% of severe concussions result in memory loss" Reid starts off on a ramble "26% of these...-"

"Not now Reid" Morgan cuts in.

"Sorry!" Reid apologises and sits back down.

"The doctor says the best thing we can do now is to help him remember" Rossi says sadly.

…..cm….cm…..

Hotch looks towards the door, a tired looking man with grey hair stands in the doorway. He looks familiar but he can't remember who he is.

"How's your head?" He says stepping into the room.

"It ok, pretty sore still." Hotch answers.

"Aaron do you remember who I am?" He says straight out.

Hotch takes a moment before he answers, just to be sure. He looks at the man again, taking in his appearance.

"Aaron?" The man repeats.

"No" Aaron responds, seeing the disappointment on the man's face.

"I'm Rossi, Dave Rossi. We work together but you are like a son to me" Rossi says after a minute.

"Rossi" Hotch whispers slowly, He knows the name. He can feel it, just out of reach. Everything is like that at the moment, so close yet so far.

"What happened to me?"Hotch asks.

Rossi looks at him for a moment, deciding whether to tell him yet.

"Just tell me" Hotch interrupts his decision "I'll be fine!"

"Ok fine" he sighs "You were at the unsubs house and had just decided who would do what…..

"_Morgan, you come with me. Reid, Prentiss around the side."_

"_Yes sir!" Prentiss and Reid say simultaneous. _

_The agents move quietly, steady, guns held out stiff in front of them. Hotch opens the door and motions for Morgan to go through. Morgan goes left into the family room, Hotch right into the dining room/kitchen._

"_Clear!" Morgan shouts._

_After glancing around the dining room, Hotch shouts "clear" seconds after him. After checking the kitchen he stops in the doorway. _

"_The house is empty! There's no-one here" Hotch shouts. Just as he finishes he hears creaking floor boards behind him, he turns to look but before he has time he feels something hard and cold connect with the back of his head. He crumbles to the ground barely able to keep conscious. _

_The unsub drags him into the room and holds Hotch up to shield himself._

"_Hotch, Someone was here before, the sheets on the bed are...-"Morgan walks into the room, stopping as he sees the situation Hotch is in._

"_I'm gonna need back-up and a paramedic in here now!" Morgan says into his radio._

"_Don't come any closer" the unsub says "or he dies!" He had his arm around hotch's throat and was slowly squeezing. Hotch was trying to pull his arms away but his injured head was making it hard to do anything._

"_You don't have to do this Henry! Let him go!" Morgan says trying to negotiate but knowing it was useless. _

_Morgan tries to slowly move forward._

"_I said don't move!" Henry screams, properly choking Hotch now._

_A shattering of glass follows the sound of a gunshot, Henry Falls to the ground with a bullet wound to the torso, letting Hotch fall away from him._

_Morgan runs to Hotch, now lying still on the ground. _

"_Hotch? Aaron?" He calls as the paramedics come running through the door._

"You're lucky to be alive Aaron!" Rossi says sadly.

"To bad I can't remember anything!" Hotch says angrily.

"Aaron stay calm, it will come back" Rossi says moving closer to the bed.

"You sound like you believe that!" Aaron looks up at the older man.

…..cm…..cm…..

_A week later… _

"When can he leave?" Emily asks the doctor.

"I'm sorry agents, Mr. Hotchner still has an inadequate amount of memory for him to be discharged." The doctor says looking at Morgan, Rossi and Prentiss in turn.

"Is there any other important thing in his life that might bring his memory back?" He adds seeing the disappointment on their faces.

"I might have something!" Rosii reveals.

…..cm…..cm…..

"Hotch we have brought someone for you to see" Emily says hopefully, looking up at Rossi on the other side of Aarons bed.

As she finishes the door handle moves and the door opens. A small arm appears followed by a little blond head. Big brown eyes beam up at the agent.

"Daddy!" The boy cries, running to the bed.

"Jack!" Aaron exclaims.

Emily and Rossi's jaws drop.

"You remember his name Aaron!" Emily says.

"What do you mean?" Hotch asks while he hugs his son.

"Who are you?" Rossi asks.

"SSA Aaron Hotchner, What kind of a question is that?" pulling away to look at Dave. He then realizes the enormity.

"I can remember! My memory I back!" He shouts.

…...

**Hope you like it! **

**What a happy ending right? I guess we will have to wait and see.**


	4. Chapter 4

"Aaron it is great to see you again! You have been dearly missed while you were recovering." Strauss says shaking Hotch's hand.

"Great to be back!" Hotch says smiling.

"Well you better go, Agent Jereau is just about to start the briefing.

"I will catch up with you later" Hotch says nodding his head and walking away.

…..

"Hey Hotch! Hotch!" Morgan called running to catch up with him.

"Hi...Morgan, I think...em... JJ is about to start the briefing." Aaron glances around the room.

"You happy to be back?" Morgan askes smiling.

Hotch stops suddenly, and stares at Morgan.

"Hotch?" Morgan's smile drops "Are you alright?"

Hotch turns away looking around the room. Everyone seemed to stop, looking to see what was happening.

After a long moment Aaron turns back to Morgan with a confused look on his face.

"Who's Hotch?"

….

"**I can only wait for the final amnesia, the one that can erase an entire life."**

**-Luis Bunuel**

**Thank you very much for reading x**

**I know its short but I find these kind of stories are best that way. **


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